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The Tabitha Foundation
Rebuilding lives one step at a time
Cambodia - Home to the bio diverse Mekong River, the enchanting
Angkor Wat and the harrowing killing fields. We all have an iconic
image that pops into our head when we hear the word Cambodia. It
is a fascinating country with a rich history that is both inspiring and
depressing.
A well means clean drinking water for the family as well as water for crops
The Khmer Rouge ruled the country from 1975 to 1979. The Regime
isolated the country from foreign influence; it closed schools, hospitals
and factories and abolished banking, finance and currency. The result
was one of the most horrific acts of genocide in history. Entire families
died from starvation, disease, work exhaustion or they were executed. Of
those executed were groups selected because they were believed to be
enemies of the state, people perceived to be intellectuals or even those
that had stereotypical signs of learning, such as glasses. When it came
to rebuilding the country many of those with the skills and knowledge
to do the job had either been killed, had fled the country or were simply
too emotionally scarred to be able to pick up the pieces of their previous
lives. Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge
Regime vary but the most commonly cited figure is 2.5 million, about a
quarter of the population.
Many people who visit Cambodia are unaware that prior to this devastation Cambodia had been a vibrant country with a rich cultural heritage
that was renowned for producing some of the finest silk in the world.
Today, 34 years after the Khmer Rouge were over thrown; the people
of Cambodia are still struggling to regain their identity, dignity and an
improved standard of living. It’s difficult to get accurate figures but it is
estimated that up to 75% of Cambodians are still living without access to
clean water, a safe place to sleep and are only able to eat one very basic
meal per day.
A number of Non-Governmental Organisation’s (NGO’s) work within Cambodia and it is testament to the strength of the Cambodians spirit that
conditions have started to improve. The Tabitha Foundation is one such
organisation. Established almost 20 years ago, it has helped over three
million Cambodians to significantly improve their quality of living.
Janne Ritskes, a Canadian born Cambodian Citizen and founder of Tabitha
has over 20 years experience of working in the slums of the United States,
Philippines, Kenya and Cambodia. Growing disillusioned with the policies and practices of some mainstream NGO’s, Janne decided to sell all of
her belongings, cash in her pension and savings and set up Tabitha. Her
aim was to help and support Cambodians to elevate themselves from
poverty and thereby build a better future for their families. She wanted to
do this not through “handouts” but by working with communities to improve their lives through regaining their dignity. Tabitha has been incredibly successful by operating simple but effective programmes and Janne
has received both global and international recognition for the impact that
Tabitha has had.
Teams from Singapore help build homes
Fishing in field pond
HOUSE BUILDING
Many of the families participating in the Savings Programme are able to
save enough money to buy land and materials to build a house. However,
some very disadvantaged families cannot save all the money required.
From participants within the Savings Programme, community elders and
Tabitha staff select the families most in need to receive a house; these
may be widows, single mothers or landmine victims. Each family selected
must own the land and contribute US$25 towards the cost of materials.
Teams of volunteers from around the world raise funds to cover the additional cost of materials and then travel to Cambodia to complete the
build under the direction of Khmer builders. In the last year alone, Tabitha
was able to build 1,140 houses with the help of 72 teams. Over a quarter
of these houses were built by teams from Singapore, which were made
up of groups from international schools, companies and groups of friends.
TABITHA SINGAPORE
Tabitha Singapore was established over 10 years ago and is run entirely
by volunteers, in fact there are no paid employees outside of Cambodia
where apart from Janne, all staff are local Khmer, many of whom were first
part of Tabitha programmes themselves.
Children on the steps of their new home built by Tabitha volunteers
Part of Tabitha’s logo says, Your help will last a lifetime, with their self-help
approach rather than “handouts”, Tabitha’s minimal overheads ensures
that your help really does last a lifetime.
In summary, over the last year Tabitha has:
•supported 78,000 families in the Savings Programme,
•installed 2,840 water sources,
•built ten new schools and started building an additional ten,
•sold US$642,000 worth of silk products, and
•started building the Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital.
You can read more about the programmes operated by Tabitha at www.
tabithasingapore.com. Alternatively if you are interested in knowing
more about Tabitha in Singapore, email volunteers@tabithasingapore.
com
The role of Tabitha Singapore is to raise both awareness and funds. It does
this by holding Tabitha Silk sales and attending and organising events. As
a result of this there is always a need for volunteers, whether they have
time to give or simply want to learn more about what Tabitha does and
help where they can.
Ayutthaya - The Ancient City
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